Running Ninja...

taken from the infamous UNIQLO collection of t-shirts. these come out once a year in limited quantities (depending on demand/exclusivity of the designs i guess) as part of the "UT" project.

"UT" (standing for: Uniqlo T-shirts i assume...) is a prime example of Japanese fashion marketing that absolutely kills dimwits like me. they get people (all kinds: big corporations, traditional companies, small-business, big-name designers, independent artists, etc.) to submit their designs (kind of the same idea as "threadless.com" i guess) and then they roll them out slooowly...in limited batches at first. the designs range from plain (simple front print), to more complicated/unique (back/side/arms), and promote everything from products, companies, emotions, photography, music...food...you name it.

a few new ones every couple of weeks to keep you on the lookout. and the smartest thing of all is the "bulk discount"; buy one at 1500yen a pop, two for a little bit less, three for even cheaper...all the way down to i think it was four for like 1000yen each or something like that. add in the fact that after a few weeks on display some shirts go on sale, either b/c they're getting "old", or sometimes it's just spontaneous...and also, certain shops in different locations don't always have the same designs (i.e. Kobe's Uniqlo may have certain shirts that they don't have in Osaka, or Kyoto, etc...) although the majority of them are everywhere.

if you're lucky enough to be able to wait it out till the "real" end of season...you can pick them up for 500yen, or sometimes even 390. but then of course, you take the chance of the one you want being sold out...or they don't have your size. so that was the predicament: buy them on sight, at the risk of forgoing the bulk discount, or wait it out??? sometimes you can find 2 you like...but not another 2 to make 4 so you can get them all for 1000yen each...and you're afraid they'll sell out of the ones you already see...so maybe you buy them. a week later you see that if you'd have waited a little longer for the NEW shirts that came in...you could've...*sigh*...one of the company's latest slogans that i saw before leaving the country said it all:

TOO MANY T-SHIRTS!!!

i'd like to think that all the ones i did end up buying were "worth" it b/c they're unique/funny/interesting enough to me, and that they're truly expressive of the time i spent in Japan...but then again who am i fooling? i'm just glad i didn't get raped by customs shipping them all back home! =P

here's my weak attempt at trying to post a low-tech vid/clip of the "Running" ninja...